Lots of information to get through this time, but first, let me remind you that SXSW Music Festival
Wristbands go off sale on Saturday, March 1. They are available at all
Star Ticket Outlets (including Waterloo Records) for $51 ($45 plus tax and
service charge). If you want to know what a SXSW wristband gets you, check the
schedule on the next page.
Next, let me remind you that the 15th Annual Austin Music Awards show is at
the Austin Music Hall, on Wednesday, March 12 and begins at 7:55pm sharp. The
emcee will be Mr. Paul Ray, along with popular funnyman Kerry Awn. The lineup
features pre-show and between-set music at the bar from”the King of Sixth
Street,” Gerry Van King, and the show begins with 81/2 Souvenirs;
followed by the Sexton Brothers Sextet; the Texas Tornados with guest Roy Head;
a Townes Van Zandt tribute hosted by Jimmie Dale Gilmore and featuring Joe Ely,
Kimmie Rhodes, Champ Hood, Mickey White, and J.T. Van Zandt; and Lou Ann Barton
featuring Jimmie Vaughan. Tickets are $13 advance (including $3 tax and service
charge) and $18.50 day of show ($15 ticket plus tax and service charge), and
the show is co-sponsored by 107.1 KGSR and 101X.
The Music Poll results, ever documenting the ongoing story of Austin music,
will be published in our special Music Awards/SXSW issue on March 14, 1997.
One more bit of business is the Executive Pass, which allows you one-day
admission to the SXSW Multimedia/Interactive Trade Show. These are available
for $25 (plus tax and service charge) at all Star Ticket Outlets. It does not
get you into the excellent panels, lectures, and forums, nor is it good for the
parties.
Back to the present. In the middle of chaos, with all hell breaking loose on every front, I get sick. Lying
in bed unable to move, sick during days where there is twice as much and then
more than twice as much more to do. Big (I’m hoping) and typically ambitious
issues of the Chronicle are underway, with an extraordinary amount of
work to do in preparation for SXSW, and I can only lie there ill. Any other
time of the year such a meltdown might be welcome, an overwhelming sense of
exhaustion and inability to function, but right now it sucks.
At the Chronicle, working conditions are made worse because lots of
people (especially in production and editorial) are out sick. Still, the staff
braves on, facing huge issues and approaching deadlines. This issue offers a
special Austin Chronicle Menu Guide, an advertising supplement that
should serve as a useful dining guide year ’round.
Ordinarily, I don’t understand film festivals that primarily show films
scheduled to be released in the upcoming weeks. SXSW Film Fest’s emphasis
really is on the next generation of talent.
Over the course of the year, films that were shown at SXSW are released
theatrically, often in relatively limited runs in the major markets, often into
wider distribution. Some go straight to video, and some play the festival
circuit and never find any kind of commercial release. This is just as it
should be; the Festival is not about commercial aspirations, but about
independent vision. This year’s festival is especially exciting. But one of the
films I’m looking forward to most is a film that will certainly go into
commercial release. Grosse Pointe Blank is a John Cusack project, but it
is directed by George Armitage. One of the first wave of great Roger Corman/New
World Pictures action directors, Armitage was responsible for Private Duty
Nurses, Hit Man, and Vigilante Force, all worth renting on video if
you can find them. After this original burst — and unlike such Corman
contemporaries as Jonathan Kaplan, Martin Scorsese, Jonathan Demme, or the
early generation of Peter Bogdanovich and Francis Ford Coppola — Armitage went
without making a movie for more than a decade. In 1990, with Demme producing,
he returned with Miami Blues. Now he’s back with Grosse Pointe
Blank. Armitage is a savage American stylist and this material, about a hit
man returning to his high school reunion, should be lots of fun.
SXSW Film passes, good for Grosse Pointe Blank and over 60 other
programs over nine days, are currently on sale for $35 ($30 plus tax and
service charge) at all Star Ticket Outlets.
[Ed. Note: At this point, Editor Louis Black had to go home sick. Publisher
Nick Barbaro would like to offer his opinion on…]
…cloning. Some months back, I wrote in this space about how genetic
engineering seemed a likely trend for the evolution of our species; that is,
that we appeared to be entering an era in our history, over the next, say, 10
generations or so, in which our species could actually begin to take some
conscious control over its own evolution, and indeed, over the evolution of
life on earth. Now, just as I have another two and a half inches to fill, it
appears that scientists are far closer to some of that technology than they had
suspected, and people are starting to get cold feet.
I say, the sooner the better. This time of year, there’s always too much to do
around here, and no one has enough time. And like Louis said, we’ve had a lot
of people out sick, too. We could use some clones to help out, work nights, and
do other stuff. I’m all for it.
This article appears in February 28 • 1997 and February 28 • 1997 (Cover).